


For You

by LadyRazorsharp



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Inspired by Fanart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-28 12:59:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15707703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyRazorsharp/pseuds/LadyRazorsharp
Summary: Inspired by a fanart where Pidge takes a shot in the back for Shiro.'Thank you' just didn't seem like enough.





	For You

_'Cause I will take it on the chin_

_Eh, for you_

_So lay your cuts and bruises over my skin_

_I promise you won't feel a thing, no_

_'Cause everything the world could throw_

_I'll stand in front, I'll take the blow for you_

_For you_

_\--The Script_

 

> ## “ ** _Shiro, look out!”_**
> 
>  

Her words hadn’t even finished ringing in his ears before he knew.

She wasn’t there, and then she was, throwing her small form against his larger one, her soft, barely heard “uhhh” when they made contact still dancing over his cheek. 

They fell for an eternity. She was a streak of light, a comet, a star given wings by love and devotion and brotherhood, of shared hardships and near-misses, of near-death and laughing so hard they cried.

Without the obscuring lenses, he could see her amber irises frozen wide. Pain, yes, but no fear. _I’m sorry, Shiro,_ he could almost hear her say. 

His little Pidge. His Green Lion. Small but mighty. The flash of her smile, the fingertips pushing the glasses up on her nose, riding on Hunk’s shoulders, covered head to toe with green goop, flinging her bayard with all of her heart and soul and strength. It all ran through Shiro’s mind in the time it took her to hit his chest and bowl them over.

“Pidge?” He caught her face in his hands. “Pidge!”

She was gone.

There was no time. Lance was screaming at him, Hunk was blasting away over his head, so Shiro gathered her up (good grief there was nothing to her) and ran like hell. 

They flung themselves around the corner and into some semblance of safety. Lance saw it first, and turned to Hunk with a wordless cry. Hunk dropped his rifle and collapsed to his knees; Shiro gave her to him, and he cradled her against his chest. She looked like a doll in armor, a child made to play a grown-ups game.

Except now, their doll was forever broken.

“No,” Hunk moaned, his forehead against hers. “No, no.”

Shiro laid his head back against the wall and wept.

* * *

They were still lost in grief when they heard the sound–so soft, that if any of them had been speaking, even quietly, they wouldn’t have heard it.

_A soft indrawing of breath, air catching at the back of a slack throat, slow and sluggish and ending on a disturbing rattle_ –

Hunk’s eyes opened, tears tumbling down his cheeks and pattering on Pidge’s chestplate.

The chestplate moved.

Hunk went rigid, not even daring to breathe, much less hope. “Shi–Shiro?”

Beside Hunk, Lance dropped to his knees and grabbed up Pidge’s hand. “Come on, kiddo,” the Blue Paladin gritted. “You’re in there, I _know_ you are. _Squeeze,_ damnit.”

It could barely count as a squeeze, a mere tightening of her fingers, but she complied. Shiro scrambled over, incredulous that the universe had given her back when he’d been so sure– _so sure–_

“Get her up,” Shiro snapped. “ _Gently_. Let's get back to the Lions.” 

“Hang on, Pidge,” Hunk murmured in her hair, clambering to his feet with Shiro and Lance to steady him on either side. “You’re gonna be okay.”

When they got back to the rendezvous point, Pidge was giving little hisses of pain between her teeth with each jolt of Hunk’s frame. Hunk ignored the way the arming tunic under his gauntlet was growing warm and sticky, and focused on getting to where the group of lions sat waiting.

Allura's armor bore a new crop of scuffs and scars, and there were smudges of exhaustion under her eyes. “What ha–” She snatched her hands to her mouth, tears welling. 

“She’s breathing _now_ ,” Shiro informed the princess. “She doesn’t have much time.”

Allura’s spine went straight and her hands fell to her sides. “Hunk, secure Pidge in the Yellow Lion. Lance, get a tow line on the Green Lion. We’re getting out of here.”

They’d never bugged out so fast. Hunk willed himself to concentrate, but later he wouldn’t remember a damn thing about that trip back to the castle.

* * *

“How is she?” asked Keith, his voice tinny over the comm. 

“She’s in the pod,” Shiro told him. “Keith, _she jumped in front of me_.”

The violet eyes widened. “What?”

“She took that blow for me.” Shiro hunched forward, elbows on the console, laced fingers covering his mouth. “That should be _me_ in that pod, not her.”

Keith’s brows knitted. “It’s _been_ you. _Several_ times. She’s watched and waited for you to come out, too.”

“I know.”

“It could happen to any of us. It _has_.”

Shiro huffed a sigh, stirring his white forelock. “I know. Doesn’t make it any easier.”

Keith’s smile was soft and sad, and he reached out to touch the screen. “She’s tough. She’ll be okay.”

“What do I say to her?” Shiro raised brimming eyes to his. “‘Thank you’ doesn’t seem like enough.”

Now Keith’s eyes were brimming as well. “You can tell her ‘thank you’ for me, too.”

* * *

When Pidge emerged two weeks later, she was tired, but in good spirits. As soon as the liquid had drained from the pod, Hunk scooped her up and carried her to her room, she insisted that she could walk, but her protests fell on deaf ears. After she’d changed into a clean tunic and shorts, she was glad that they’d spared her the trip; just the effort of dressing sapped her energy. Wearily, she climbed into bed, wincing where the barely-healed skin and muscle on her back and torso pulled. 

She remembered the need to move, to get to Shiro, but her thought processes hadn’t gone beyond that. 

She remembered just the barest instant of pain, then numbness and the awful smell of charred flesh. 

She remembered hitting Shiro straight on, and the dizzying tilt of the world as they crashed to the floor. Then she tried to take a breath, only to find that her lungs refused to work. 

Shiro’s voice echoed from far away: _Pidge…Pidge…_

She’d tried to answer him, but the universe gently tugged her out of time, and she sank into the darkness.

Now she lay huddled in her bunk, feeling the residual pain pulse with every beat of her heart. It was then that she realized it was way, _way_ too quiet.

Slowly, she got to her feet and grabbed her pillow and blanket, then padded down to the lounge and made herself at home on the couch. The room was empty at the moment, but there was enough noise to help her remember that she was alive.

Somewhere close, Hunk was singing. Lance and Coran’s voices, if not their words, floated on the air, and Allura laughed. Pidge removed her glasses, put them on the table next to her, and snuggled into the cushions.

She wasn’t sure how long she’d slept, but a presence woke her, and she rolled over to see Shiro sitting on the sofa across from her. He was scrolling through his datapad, but when she stirred, he laid it aside and smiled.

“How are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m still sore,” she admitted, “but I’m fine.” She nodded to the room in general. “Was too quiet back in my quarters.”

“I understand.” He leaned forward, elbows on knees, biological hand fiddling with the service panel in his bionic one. “Thank you.” He looked up at her. “Someone else has something to say, too.” He pulled the pad over, and Keith’s face appeared.

“Hey,” the former Red Paladin greeted her. “You okay?”

“Getting there.”

“Good.” Keith smiled. “I just wanted to say thank you…for Shiro.”

Pidge smiled back. “My pleasure.”

“Get some sleep.”

“I will.”

Keith cut the connection, and Shiro stood to straighten the blanket over Pidge’s small frame. The white forelock tickled her cheek as Shiro brushed his lips against her forehead. “G’night, Pidge.” 

She slept.

\--End--


End file.
